No, she played the system to eliminate other candidates from her own party who might have run for her seat had they known she would retire. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing there might have been other GOP candidates other than Dick Nugent, who other than being Ginny's buddy from Brooksville, no one seems to know much about.

Right now, Nugent won't say much about his positions. It's impossible to know how much he will be willing to compromise his legacy for the sake of political advancement.

On the one hand, he says he wants to listen to voters and "won't take well'' to party leaders trying to tell him what to do.

On the other, he agreed to Ginny Brown-Waite's devious, last-minute qualifying plan that gave him the inside track for her seat.

It wasn't a good start. Not a start that would cause people to have the confidence in him that he will actually do a good job of independently representing the people of Florida's Fifth.